Monday 18 September 2017 – Hvar Town, Hvar Island

I didn’t post anything yesterday because nothing really happened.  We stayed in the marina due to rain and wind.  We got domestic chores done including have the laundry done and cleaning the outside of the boat. 

Today we decided that the weather was good enough to leave, so we slipped the mooring and just after 7am.  We want to go to Hvar, which is over 30 miles away and is, according to all the books, very popular, so we are keen to get there as early as possible.

The day starts out sunny, but very cool.  There is no wind to speak of, and what little there is, is on the nose, so we are still motoring.  The thing about Croatia is that for the first time this trip we are seeing lots of other boats, but they are all going the other way!  As the day wears on the wind picks up and the sea gets a slight swell.  As we are motoring into the bottom of a 4, the going is a bit slower than we had hoped for.  We arrive in Hvar bay at about 1:30.  We really had no idea where or how we were going to moor.  The book said there were berths along the town wall, mooring buoys and you could anchor.  Richard hoped that as we were early we might get on the wall.  I started to prepare for that when an official looking man in a rib came up and told us to go to buoy where other boats were moored with the buoy at the front and long lines behind.

So the fun started.  The mooring buoy was another one with a very short pick up through which we were supposed to put a line.  I managed to get hold of it in a lumpy sea, but I couldn’t lift it high enough to get a line through.  In the meantime my boat hook had got caught in a knot on the pickup and I couldn’t release it. So it was dragging me along with the boat.  The only alternative was to drop it with the buoy.

At this point Richard came to the bows and helped pull the buoy up so I could get a line through.  Just as I was doing this there was a lot of shouting from the shore.  I usually ignore this because people always shout at each other on these boats.  It is the only way to be heard.  But then I heard them say ‘Southerly’, and realized that were shouting at us because our boat was going backwards right into another one!  I ran back as Richard was still trying to extricate our boat hook.  I started bow thrusting like crazy, which kept us from hitting the other boat but did not position our boat for tying on stern lines.  As this stage we had made such a hash of things that three lads in matching tee shirts (professional crew?)  came over in a rib to help.  First thing was to free Richard and me to fend off the other boat while one of them came aboard to sort out the line to the buoy.  Firstly I got it wrong way around the pulpit.  Secondly it needed to be on a much longer rope to allow us to reverse close enough to the shore to attach stern lines.  They managed to sort that out and then took lies from us and tied them on the metal rings in the harbour wall.  We had to get out our really long lines and that was only just long enough.  I have no idea how we were supposed to do this on our own!

It took us nearly an hour to tie up.  By then we were both exhausted even though the lads did most of the work!  Of course when we had moored the official from the port turned up in a rib to take our boat papers and check us in.  Funny that.

So having got here (we are on the penultimate available buoy) we must go see the town.  We came here because it is supposed to be such a gem.  And, indeed it is.  The only problem is the lumpy sea.  We only have 30 yards or so to go with the dinghy, and we can use our stern lines to pull us along, but still that proved to be a problem.   When we finally got to the wall we were splashed by waves.  I managed to get off with the painter without too much trouble, but Richard seemed not to be able to get out.  In the end 3 older blokes (maybe older than us) had to pull him up!

We had a nice walk around the town, which is a beautiful Venetian city with a large square just off the port with palaces and a cathedral.  There is a huge citadel above the town up a steep hill.  We were going to go up to it, but we wimped out.  All that fuss with the boat exhausted us.  So we just walk around up and down some of the side alleys.  It is all lovely.  The modern parts are very chic.  There are big name shops and lots of restaurants and cafes.  We find that we could never have moored on the town wall.  That seems reserved just for super yachts with accordingly long lazy lines we couldn’t have used.  There are some swinging moorings, but we guess we are better off where we are.

After a long walk, an ice cream and then a cocktail we go to return to the boat.  When we get to our dinghy I can’t release the painter.  It has got caught behind a very taut line from  the boat next to us (the one we nearly hit).  After struggling for several minutes, someone from the boat came and helped release the painter from his warp.  We made it safely (just) back on the boat.  It is very rocky.  Richard hopes it will settle down in the night, but it is now nearly 10pm and we are still bouncing about badly.  I have even had to take a sea sick pill!  One of my precious dwindling stocks.

We have just discovered that a gale is coming in tomorrow afternoon.  So we are anxious to leave early.  Only problem is we have no idea how we will be able to release our stern lines.  We hope someone will take pity on us elderly hopeless sailors!